Valley View tornado throws steel beams into pastor's home
VALLEY VIEW, Texas - The clean-up is underway in Valley View, Texas, where preliminary reports say an EF-2 tornado touched down on Saturday night.
Seven people were killed in Cooke County.
Among them, Laura Esparza and her two children, 15-year-old Miranda and 9-year-old Marco.
North Texas tornado victims: What we know
While many North Texas are working to clean-up the damage left behind by Saturday night's tornadoes, we are learning more about 7 victims who lost their life.
Pastor Joshua Fowler and his family rode out the tornado in his hallway bathroom.
He said it felt like an eternity.
"Right in the middle of crying I felt the Holy Spirit just come on me, and we began to command the storm to leave our land," said Fowler.
Beams from the RV storage facility across the street came through his home.
"Look at this. This is the steel that came through from next-door all the way through," said Fowler.
Their 17-year-old son was upstairs.
"By the grace of God he’s here, because in his bed there’s three or four steel poles," Fowler said.
The guest house where Eben Black lives with his wife and 3-month-old was untouched.
"Today we're working on the other big tree, and we're just trying to restore power and water," said Black.
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VIDEO: Valley View, TX tornado rips through gas station walls
Video obtained by FOX 4 shows the moment that a tornado tore down the walls of a gas station in Valley View on Saturday night.
FOX 4 crews saw dozens of utility workers in Valley View on Monday.
The crews working outside with a heat index well over 100 trying to restore electricity to stranded residents.
Governor Greg Abbott says about 120 homes were damaged and more than 200 homes were destroyed, including Amber Lidster's mobile home.
The single mom and her son weren't home at the time.
Their home is leveled.
"I think my knees almost buckled, but the support of my neighbors and my family," Lidster said.
Her two dogs survived unscathed.
Like many of the residents here, she'll be relying on the kindness of nonprofits and neighbors until she's back on her feet.
"Devastating. I work my butt off for so long for this. Alone doing it on my own and for it to be wiped out in a minute, it’s hard to swallow," Lidster said.